Janesville's David Jacobson celebrates milestones with St. Norbert

The St. Norbert College junior goalie and 2009 Janesville Parker graduate was recently named the NCAA Division III men’s hockey player of the year.

Jacobson led the Green Knights to their second national title in three years and put together a spectacular season. He finished 24-1-1 and led DIII in virtually every statistical category.

The player of the year award was presented to Jacobson at a banquet on Thursday, the night before the Division III Frozen Four began.

“I give all the credit to my teammates,” Jacobson said. “They made it all possible.

“I think we were the first team ever to lead the nation in goals scored (4.78) and fewest allowed (1.44). Obviously, that makes my job a lot easier when we’re putting up four or five goals a game.”

St. Norbert beat Geneseo State University, 6-2, in Friday night’s Frozen Four semifinal game. The Green Knights followed that up with a 3-1 win over Northern Collegiate Hockey Association rival UW-Stevens Point. Jacobson finished with 23 saves in the title game and became the first St. Norbert goalie to be in net for two national championships.

“We’ve been building as a team since coming back from the Christmas break,” Jacobson said. “And beating Point, a team that we have such a long history and rivalry with, made it even better.”

Jacobson has one season left at St. Norbert. He will graduate next May with a major in business administration and a minor in graphic design, and he is currently working an internship with Schreiber Foods.

In three seasons, Jacobson is 63-9-5 with 17 shutouts.

St. Norbert will have 12 seniors, including Jacobson, on the team next season.

“We are all already looking forward to next season,” Jacobson said of the close-knit group of juniors. “We had a chance to win a national title all four years but came up short last season.

“Still, to win three titles would be awesome, so that’s our No. 1 goal.”

With David Jacobson in net, the Green Knights’ chances are pretty good.